


HE STANDS THERE

by Alfuso



Category: Custer, History - Fandom, Native American/First Nations Mythology, poems - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-08 22:41:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1138282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alfuso/pseuds/Alfuso
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Horse, Comanche, was not the "only" survivor of Custer's Last Stand. The winners survived. so did other horses. But Comanche had a better PR firm. Rather than write another "gallant" horse poem about Comanche, I saw the animal as the Indians might have seen him -- and the Indians would have been the first to see that Comanche had survived. Some of their legends speak of a soldier's horse which guarded its dead rider. And they might also have remembered Comanche's rider, Capt. Myles Keogh who, in death, appears to have given them a good fight. Warriors respect a good warrior -- man or animal.</p><p>The Indian View:</p>
            </blockquote>





	HE STANDS THERE

See this wretched soldier-pony  
Up to his knees in dead soldiers  
Sharing his blood with them  
See how he stays there  
Standing over his dead warrior  
Those two, they fought good!  
Maybe we do not want him  
We cannot drive him away  
He kicks and bites  
So we let him stay there  
Standing over his dead warrior  
Those two, they fought good!  
We told the women  
That pony will leave  
Thirst will drive him to the river  
And he will die in the water  
But he stays there  
Such a warrior to earn such a pony!  
Maybe we will not mark that soldier  
Though we would like his fine medal  
A day and a night have passed  
And still his pony stays there  
Kicking and biting for his dead warrior  
That pony, he still fights good!  
Soon we will go from here  
There is too much blood  
too much death  
Too many bad spirits  
We leave them to the other soldiers  
And a loyal pony  
It was a good day to fight!  
And that pony,  
Maybe he fought the best of all. 

© L. Terrell 2014


End file.
